Teamsters union leader James Hoffa Jr. joined the debate over Denver’s selection as host for the Democratic National Convention by confronting Gov. Bill Ritter at a Washington dinner and promising the issue could “blow up” next summer if Colorado doesn’t become more labor-friendly.

“We’re very upset about it,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters president said of the Democrats’ decision to stage their convention at the nonunion Pepsi Center. In an interview Monday, Hoffa also mentioned Ritter’s veto of a pro-union law. “All of labor is upset,” Hoffa said.

Hoffa said it is “ironic” that the Republicans are planning their convention in heavily unionized Minneapolis-St. Paul. “Maybe we should flip it and let the Republicans come to Denver,” he said.

Hoffa expressed his displeasure personally to Ritter on Saturday night in Washington at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner, where politicians mingle with the media. He said he told Ritter that if he and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper didn’t work out some key issues, the convention could be plagued with protests and picket lines.

“It could blow up,” Hoffa told Ritter.

Hoffa said he agrees with the president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney. Last month, the AFL-CIO said it would ask the Democratic Party to move its convention to another city if a law like the one Ritter vetoed wasn’t enacted.

Ritter angered local and national unions, traditional powerhouse Democratic supporters, by rejecting a change to the so- called Labor Peace Act, which would have removed a second vote during the process of creating an all-union workplace. Unions criticized the Democrat for bowing to business interests after he initially said he would support the change.

The governor has said he made the decision in order to advance a broader agenda. He declined an interview Monday on his encounter with Hoffa.

But his staff pointed to Ritter’s recent restoration of a voluntary payroll deduction for state workers that automatically covered union dues. That option had been suspended by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens. Ritter also recently signed pro-worker measures that support nurses and health care workers.

“The governor is confident that all of the issues can be worked out and that we will have a successful convention in 2008,” said Ritter’s spokesman, Evan Dreyer.

Hickenlooper also declined an interview but said in a prepared statement: “We continue to work with diverse interests including labor communities, citizens and businesses to prepare for a successful event.”

Hoffa also said he was upset that Denver’s only hotel to successfully organize, the Convention Center’s Hyatt Regency, still lacked a contract with its workers.

Denver’s convention host committee president, Elbra Wedgeworth, said the Hyatt negotiations with the recently organized workers were going smoothly and that a contract should be in place within a year.

It is not unusual for labor to use the leverage a national Democratic convention brings, observers say. At the 2004 convention, national Democrats helped mediate a labor dispute between police and the city of Boston that stopped a picket line and gained the police a new contract and big raise.

But this time Democrats tried to craft an agreement meant to get past the Pepsi Center’s nonunion status. So far unsigned, the agreement would promise that only unions would be hired to do the work at the Pepsi Center in exchange for a promise by unions not to protest.

The Democratic National Committee said Monday that it remained optimistic that differences could be solved.

“Labor is an important partner,” said DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton. “We will continue to address concerns and work with all of our partners toward a mutually acceptable agreement and successful convention.”

To that end, DNC chairman Howard Dean is expected to meet in Denver with Sweeney and a host of local labor and city officials on April 12.

Meanwhile, local labor unions have been left wondering.

Said Ed Bagwell, an international Teamsters representative who coordinates Denver city and county workers for Teamsters Local 400: “The state better start realizing that when you put a ‘D’ in front of your name, you better know what it stands for.”

Chuck Plunkett is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. A professional journalist for more than 20 years, he served as The Post's politics editor from July 2011 through July 2016. Plunkett worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, his hometown paper, and for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review before coming to The Denver Post in 2003, where he ultimately began developing his writing about politics as the newsroom's lead writer covering Denver's preparation for the Democratic National Convention in 2008.